“By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds.
For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.
If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work.
If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward.
If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.
1 Corinthians 3:10-15
Here Paul talks about him laying the foundation of the church. That, that foundation is Jesus Christ nothing else and no one else can lay that foundation.
Paul states that
“If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work.
If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward.
If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.”
Simply put if we start to put superfluous things worldly things as part of the church or our of our faith, it will be burned away.
And that doesn’t just mean material things, ornate church buildings, fine vestments for the priest, or pastors. It means I believe especially things like traditions, customs and habits that tend to slip into our worship sometimes without us realizing it.
All to often in our churches we get into habits and traditions that mean nothing to our faith. Yet we become it seems, married to them.
Our faith in Christ is still there yet we embellish it with a lot of bells and whistles. And over the centuries we have put a lot of embellishment on what we call the church.
Many church services consist of elaborate rituals that can mean a lot to the faithful, but when it comes to our salvation it doesn’t amount to anything.
I know people in the evangelical world that call themselves fundamentalist point especially to the Catholic church and their practices such as infant baptism, first communion and other things. They point out that these things do not save. Only faith does.
At the same time these evangelicals are also guilty of some rituals. Many insist on raising of hands during worship. Some have gone as far as moving away completely from traditional hymns to ‘songs of worship’.
Some insist on singing only traditional church hymns. Other churches don’t even allow instruments as part of the worship service.
In other churches one kneels to pray while others stand.
I know of many churches that insist you dress up in fine clothes for church, one’s ‘church clothes’. They consider it an insult to God if you enter the church dressed casually.
None of the things I’ve mentioned above effects our salvation. Such things are a kin to adding gold and silver, precious jewels to the foundation.
Our foundation should be in Christ Jesus. Paul reminding us in his letter to the Ephesians that,
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.
For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
Ephesians 2:8-10
Read the words of Paul to the Corinthians again,
“If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work.
If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward.
If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.”
What is important to the overall resting place of the individual is whether or not they have accepted Jesus as Lord and Saviour of their life.
When we stand before God it will not matter how eloquent of speech we are. It will not matter how well dressed we were in church, or how good or bad we sung the hymns.
It will however matter whether or not we know Jesus as our Lord and Saviour.
There is an old expression that says.
“Only one life it will soon be past. Only what is done for Christ will Last.
Think about it.
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